Pinhoti

Program NotesPinhoti, for cello and soundfile, was written for Craig Hultgren in 2010. The title is a Muskogee word meaning "home of turkeys" and also the name of a hiking trail that traverses northeastern Alabama and northwestern Georgia. Structurally, the piece tracks an elevation profile of the trail from Flagg Mountain near Sylacauga to the Georgia state line, from data points compiled by Chris Johnson. Sound sources are cello open string samples performed by Hultgren, and turkey calls provided by Glenn Howard. Cello sounds are detuned to a pitch collection representing the 6th through 27th partials of the overtone series. Turkey sounds (putt, cutt, cackle, kee-kee, purr, yelp, rattle, gobble, scratch, hush, and drum) are only transformed temporally, if at all.

Biographical SketchMonroe Golden is a composer from rural Alabama whose works often explore microtonal systems. Critics have described his compositions as "delightfully disorienting," "lovely, sumptuous, yet arcane,” and "irresistible music, full of wit and beauty.” He graduated from the University of Montevallo and earned a doctorate in Music Composition from the University of Illinois. There are three complete CDs of his music, A Still Subtler Spirit (Living Artist Recordings, 2003), Alabama Places (innova Recordings, 2007), and Incongruity (self-published, 2011).